President Obama, inhumane House leaders will not act. Take Executive Action and stop deportations now.

The New Sanctuary Coalition of NY urges President Obama to use his executive authority to stop deportations despite the request from some misguided immigrant advocates who are waiting for the House to act on reform.

The Speaker of the House Jon Boehner recently said that he is not going to bring any immigration legislation to a vote because of Obamacare. This does not make sense. This congress does not make sense. Only yesterday, the House of Representatives, which won’t bring immigration reform to a vote, found time to vote on rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) amendment pushing for increased scrutiny of the Department of Homeland Security’s use of prosecutorial discretion. This legislative session has been filled with disruptive, destructive and do nothing members of Congress who continue to show their inhumanity by protecting corporations instead of people.

Everyday thousands of lives are destroyed by deportation. Waiting will not help Dave Johnson, a father of 4 US citizen children who was given prosecutorial discretion which was immediately broken by ICE, who broke its own rules and took Mr. Johnson away to deport him. Waiting will not help Khalil who was going to graduate with Honours(4.0) from graduate school but was taken away days before the ceremony and detained to be deported. Their children are crying every night for their fathers.

President Obama’s decision to delay deportation review feels like a blast of cold air this spring. Organizations like ours, the New Sanctuary Coalition of NYC, hoped that the President would do the right thing and ease the constant suffering, the pressure and anxiety that immigrants and their families face every day. The Rev. Susan Karlson, co chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition, expressed outrage at the President’s decision to delay the review on deportation policies. “For decades, we have been seeing the effects of this country’s harsh immigration policies and the inhumane treatment of those who are separated from their families and loved ones. Immigrants often work hard providing services, paying taxes and raising their families. Some have spent years in immigration detention centers and there are those who have served their sentences and yet are faced with compounded losses and deportation. They all face deportation and the splintering of their families.”

You, President Obama, who fought on side of the people against injustice when you were an organizer, who said that you will fight for the people as a candidate, now you fight the people with your policies that destroys many lives. You have already deported over 2 million people, which goes against your ‘own principles’ of justice. This is an opportunity to change your legacy and take action.